how men and women perceive attractiveness

Attractiveness and your brain

With the advance of brain imaging devices it became possible to find out which areas of a human brain become activated when a certain external stimuli is encountered.

A experiment was carried out by bringing some men and some women then placing them on a device that can detect the changes in their brain activities.

Both men and women were shown pictures of their current lovers, whom they said they loved so much, and the changes in their brain activities were recorded.

For men, the area responsible for visual processing was the most active when they were shown the pictures of their lovers.

For women, the area responsible for memory recall was the most active when they were shown the pictures!

How men and women perceive attractiveness

This study and many other ones have proven the same thing. Men put more weight to physical looks than women do while women put more weight to personality and resources than men do. (see also What attracts men)

This doesn't mean that men are superficial but it only means that physcial looks come on top of the list of items they are looking for.

If you are a woman, Don't confuse looks with facial beauty because another study have found that one of the most important thing men look for is a lower waist to hip ratio. In other words,if you are fit then you will become much more physically attractive to men even if you believe that your face doesn't attract them much. (see also Why do people perceive physical attractiveness differently )

The study shows that women a can sacrifice physical looks in exchange for resources or a good personality.

Why do men care about looks?

In my book The psychology of physical attraction i said that according to the biological point of view, the woman who has an ideal waist to hip ratio, which is 0.8, full lips and a symmetrical face is healthier and more fertile.

Men were designed to look for the most fertile woman in order to increase the chance of bringing new off-springs.

Why do women care about personality and resources?

Most men remain fertile all life long and that's why their looks might not have the same weight compared to other things that determine whether they will be good fathers or not.

Men who have more resources can provide the child with its needs and thus can become better fathers.

A man who has a good personality traits such as courage and ambition can be a good protector of the family and thus is considered more attractive to women. (see Do women care about looks)

This is also why women might need some time before they can get attached to a man and this is the same reason why a man can become attached to a woman right after seeing her.

Men and women are different

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to understand how attraction happens is that they assume that both sexes think the same way.

That's why you might find a man who is much concerned about his looks and that's the same reason why you might find a woman who doesn't care about looking good.

The key to attracting the opposite sex is understanding the difference between the way a male and a female thinks.

2knowmysef is not a complicated medical website nor a boring online encyclopedia but rather a place where you will find simple, to the point and effective information that is backed by psychology and presented in a simple way that you can understand and apply. If you think that this is some kind of marketing hype then see what other visitors say about 2knowmyself.The book How to make someone fall in love with you was released by 2knowmyself.com; the book will dramatically increase your chance of letting someone fall in love with you.